How Far Theyve Come How Far They Have To Go
Two new reports give us a detailed look at how far private military and security contractors have come and how far they have to go in terms of ensuring effective oversight and accountability for their...
View ArticleDont Ask Dont Tell Dont Oversee Dont Account
When, on Sep. 21, Senate Democrats failed, due to Republican opposition, to get the required 60 votes needed to put a referendum on the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy to a vote they did more...
View ArticlePutting the Lawyers in Lawyers Guns and Money
Doubtlessly, Warren Zevon and writer of the legendary song, Lawyers, Guns and Money, would appreciate this, if he were still alive. By now you may have noted that I like writing about law journal...
View ArticleDifferent Strokes for Different PMC Users
A student thesis paper published in March by the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School examines problems that states face when using private military companies (PMCs) and possible solutions for solving those...
View ArticleThe Liability of Using a PMC to do Foreign Police Training
Last month the independent publication Intelligence Online reported that Altegrity, the “global security solutions and specialized law enforcement training company” headquartered in Falls Church,...
View ArticlePMSC and the Quest for Perfect Information
People often try to fit private military and security contractors into a binary construct. Either they are thinly veiled corporate mercenaries or they are unsung patriots doing their part for the...
View ArticleLets Tell It Like It Is
I have, on occasion, in the past been critical of IPOA (formerly the International Peace Operations Association and now the Association of the Stability Operations Industry), the Washington, DC-based...
View ArticleSergio Leone on PMC
Earlier this month I mentioned past congressional testimony by Colonel T. X. Hammes (USMC – Ret.), Senior Research Fellow, Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS) , National Defense University....
View ArticleInternational Code of Conduct for Private Security Service Providers
I had briefly mentioned the International Code of Conduct for Private Security Service Providers when I wrote about the recent IPOA annual summit. But I wan to commend it to your attention. Although I...
View ArticleAhem About That Great Change to the UCMJ
Was it only four years ago that people were applauding the change Congress made to the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), as part of the FY 2007 National Defense Authorization Act? The provision...
View ArticleChanging The Rules With PMC
I recently mentioned a paper by retired Marine Corps Colonel T.X. Hammes and suggested it as recommended reading. If you haven’t done it I hope you do. But as it turns out this is not the first time he...
View ArticlePMSC Theyre Not Just for the United States
Usually lost in the often histrionic conversation about private military and security contractors is that they are not used by the United States. When PMSC advocates talk about their industry being a...
View ArticleWhen the US UK and France All Do It
It is not popular to say but private military and security contractors don’t just do work in war zones. Although you don’t hear a lot about it in public, private military and security contractors are...
View ArticleThe Other Side of the Global PMC Industry
One thing that private military contractors always say about their industry is that it is a global industry. In other words, it is not just a national, but an international industry. And it is true...
View ArticleLets Call It PMCkeeping
Perhaps we should start calling it PMCkeeping. By that I mean letting the private sector become involved in peace operations in a more direct way than the current role of providing logistics support....
View ArticleThe Three Fifths PMC
As I have noted on more than one occasion private military and security contractor supporters frequently argue that using contractors is less costly than using regular military forces. I’ve pointed out...
View ArticleJack Bauer Beats Blackwater
Who knew that we will needed Jack Bauer, he of the famed Counter Terrorist Unit on the 24 TV show, to fight Blackwater as it prepares to set off a nuclear device? I certainly didn’t. Well okay, not...
View ArticleThe PMSC Observer
Spoiler alert: the following is a bit of blatant self promotion. That said I would like to pose the following question. Where do you go to find information on private military and security contracting...
View ArticlePut Your Empirically Proven Data Where Your Mouth Is
As a military veteran, and someone who is more interested in actual facts than rhetoric, I have long been bugged by two claims made by private military and security contracting advocates, i.e., first,...
View ArticlePMC Philippine Military Contractor
I’ve noted before that the PMC sector is a global one. This is an often repeated and certainly not original assertion but it is not taken nearly seriously enough. Partly the reason is that coverage of...
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